Bruins face surging Leafs

Saturday, November 9, 2013 -- Steve Conroy

Real redemption for the Toront Maple Leafs will not be attainable until the spring, but you can bet they'll be looking for a small slice of it tonight when they face the Bruins at the Garden in their first game here since their nightmarish Game 7 collapse in last year's first playoff round.

And through their first 16 games of the season, the appear to be something of a team on a mission. They come into the Garden with an 11-5 rcord after their 2-1 shootout win at home against New Jersey on Friday, in a points tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Milan Lucic, one of the heroes of that amamzing 5-4 comeback win, remembered both what a magical night it was a for the Bruins and also how brutal loss can serve as motivation for a team.

"I remember being exhausted when it was all said and done. It's really hard to explain what really went on because it went by really fast. It was one of those things that happened and you were in a whirlwind, like everyone else. But it seemed like once we scored that goal to make it 4-2, momentum came back on our side and everything went right. And everything has to go right in order for a comeback like that to happen. Obviously it was something that propelled us to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals after a huge comeback like that," said Lucic. "But in saying that, I've been on the other side of things like that. In 2010 we were up 3-0 in Game 7 (against the Flyers) in the first period after being up 3-0 in the series. Looking back at that, that made us strong er as a team to be able to rebound and recover and come back after that. I feel like Toronto has definitely gotten stronger with the start they've had and we'll where something like that can take them."

The Bruins held an optional skate, so it's clear if there will be any changes in the lines or defense pairs, though with the way they finished up their win over the Panthers you would assume there wouldn't be any. The Leafs, meanwhile, did not have a morning skate because of their game last night. They're down two centers, Tyler Bozak and Dave Bolland, forcing coach Randy Carlyle to load up on the first line with James vanRiemsdyk between Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel. Kessel, who leads the Leafs with 10-9-19 totals, scored a highlight reel goal on Friday against the Devils and appears to be on the cusp of a career year.